Preparing for winter requires all the necessities: fuel to stay warm, layers to stay warm—strategies to stay warm! But winter also offers the perfect opportunity to explore fun and creative activities that transform the snowy, frosty landscape into a wonderland of outdoor art and play.

Imagine transforming your yard into a canvas with snow painting. Spray bottles filled with food coloring allow you to add vivid bursts of color across fresh snow, turning winter’s blank slate into a temporary outdoor masterpiece.

If you want to bring a natural, decorative touch to your space, ice sun catchers made by freezing leaves, berries, and pine needles in shallow containers offer a beautiful way to catch the sunlight and sparkle.

Snow candles create an enchanting atmosphere for those who love a warm glow on cold nights. By making small molds in the snow and pouring in melted wax, you can craft unique candles to set outside, casting a gentle, inviting light in the winter dusk.

Frozen bubbles are another magical option. On the chilliest days, simply blowing bubbles outdoors lets you watch them freeze midair into delicate, frosty shapes.

Colored ice blocks bring a playful twist to winter. By freezing colored water in small containers, you can build vibrant structures or sculptures in the snow.

Natural frozen leaf and pine needle ornaments, made by freezing bits of nature into icy shapes, make stunning hanging decorations that highlight the beauty of winter’s simplicity.

Snow luminaries offer another touch of warmth. Created by freezing containers of colored water and adding a candle in the center, they glow softly as dusk settles, adding a magical touch to snowy evenings.

For one final burst of color, try ice marbles. By freezing water balloons filled with food coloring, you can create bold splashes of color to scatter across the snow.

Each activity brings its own magic to winter, blending the season’s beauty with creativity and fun. So start dreaming Beartarians!

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START DREAMING BEARTARIANS!
NO ONE IS HAVING MORE FUN THAN US!

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We’d love to see the photos of what you create.
If you’re willing to share yours, send them by e-mail to editor@beartariatimes.com or by tagging @Editorial Staff in the App when you post.

Calling All Artists!

We want to announce a fun and friendly contest hosted by BudBear, for a poster design for the Beartaria Times National Festival this year.

BudBear will accept submissions until August 24th.

Twelve finalists will be selected, and their designs will be printed and sold at the festival. Whoever sells out of 100 copies or sells the most by the end of the festival will be the grand prize winner with bragging rights and could allegedly receive a copy of their design signed by the Big Bear himself.

Designs should be digital renderings, 12×18 inches vertical, and 300 dpi. As always, please keep it to the clean and family-friendly standards of The Beartaria Times Community.

All proceeds will be donated to Beartaria Ozark Campground at BeartariaCampgrounds.com

Poster designs can be submitted to bearposters33@gmail.com for consideration.

By: Charity (@trailerparkgirl on BTA)

My mom started making wool sweater mittens sometime around 2014. She got the idea from visiting a local Mennonite-owned store. She found patterns online and started out just making them for the family. We’re a family of ten, so there are plenty of us to make mittens for.

In 2015, at eighteen, I became her right-hand businesswoman and began photographing her mittens and selling them on Etsy. My younger sister, Madeline, drew the mitten in the shop logo.

My mom called her shop “Too Many Mittens.” She may or may not have gotten the idea for the name from the 1958 children’s book “Too Many Mittens.”

It’s one of a few books she remembers from her childhood. My mom grew up in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and the story takes place in Michigan. 

My mom has always loved seeing her children be creative, so she was thrilled when I showed interest in learning how to make mittens. So, in 2016, she taught me how to make wool sweater mittens. I found them to be pretty simple to make. Very fun, too. I already had some experience with sewing, so it didn’t take long to get the hang of mitten-making. The excitement of pairing different wool sweater fabrics together and adding cool buttons to the cuffs was enough to get me hooked.

We make the mittens out of wool sweaters from thrift shops. And we line the mittens with fleece. My mom and I have had a blast sifting through thrift shop clothes racks in search of funky wool sweaters. We’ve gone through hundreds of wool sweaters in the past several years. Sometimes I see a sweater that I love so much that I’m tempted to keep it for myself to wear. But then I think, “Nah, that’ll make some really cool mittens.”

A few years ago, I invested in an embroidery sewing machine and lots of machine-embroidery thread. It’s been lots of fun to play around with different designs on mittens. They really give mittens extra character. The machine was definitely worth it. And it was fairly affordable. I use a Brother SE625. 

Now, in 2022, my mom is far too busy for making mittens. She’s focused on helping raise some of her grandchildren. So, my mom decided to let me take over Too Many Mittens. I’m planning on adding other handcrafted goods to our shop in the future, like cold-process soap. I’ve been playing around with soap-making since 2018. I’m currently working on perfecting recipes. My goal is to have soap available by Spring 2023. I’m even trying to get my younger sister to design the labels for the soap. After all, it is tradition. 

One day, I hope my mom will have some extra time on her hands so that she can get back into making mittens. She really enjoyed it, just like I do. Together, we have sold over 350 pairs of mittens. I’m grateful for the time we’ve been able to bond because of our mutual love of mitten-making. If I ever have a daughter of my own, I plan to teach her how to make wool sweater mittens and so many other wonderful things.

Visit my Etsy shop, Too Many Mittens, Here!

Bears get 15% off with the code: TRAILERPARKGIRL